After the sigh in November, take the baton in December, look through the calendar, almost the end of the year, are you already full of expectations? When it comes to the "must-have" projects of Xi'an people every new year, "lantern festival" must be on the list, this custom that has been passed down from ancient times to the present makes our greater Xi'an full of New Year's flavor.
It is said that "Shangyuan never sleeps in the city, return without looking at the lights", while everyone is looking forward to the brilliant beauty, it is better to do homework first, and follow the new column of Qujiang Cultural Tourism [Lights Chang'an] to see what the Sheng Tang Shangyuan Lantern Festival looks like.
The "Lights chang'an" column will take the Tang Dynasty Lantern Festival as the background and present the brilliant beauty of the Tang Dynasty period to the public through the telling method of "one story at a time".
The Lantern Festival is one of the traditional festivals in China, also known as the "Shangyuan Festival", which is rooted in the ancient custom of folk turning on lights and praying for blessings. In the Tang Dynasty, lantern viewing during the Lantern Festival was a very important "carnival for all" activities.
/Lantern Monk - Cave 159 of Mogao Caves (Middle Tang Dynasty)
It is reported that Tang Xuanzong, because he liked the lantern festival too much, extended the lantern festival from one night in the Han Dynasty to three nights, and required all official offices to stop working during this period, watch the lanterns for three nights, and have fun with the people. In addition, he also ordered people to make a huge lamp tower in the eastern capital of Luoyang, "one hundred and ten feet high, hanging with pearls and jade, the breeze moves, and the sound is sonorous, and its lamps are in the shape of dragons, phoenixes, tigers, and leopards."
In addition to the emperor himself, the local courts, temples, eunuch residences, and rich mansions also set up sheds, built colorful buildings, and did not hesitate to make lanterns and burn lamps to win the battle. Lu Zhaolin, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, used the poem "Fifteen Nights to Watch the Lanterns" with the phrase "to receive the stars of Han Doubt, and to hang like a moon in the building." "It depicts the gorgeous and prosperous scene of the mountain of flowers and lanterns at that time, which is desirable.
/ Tang Furong Garden past light group
/ Xi'an City Wall past light group
/ Daming Palace National Heritage Park past light group
The opening of the curfew on the Yuan Festival in the Tang Dynasty not only gave birth to the Chinese style of sleepless nights, but also made many couples who did not have the opportunity to contact each other on this day, which just confirmed the widely circulated phrase "the crowd looked for him for a thousand hundred degrees, and suddenly looked back, but the man was there, and the lights were dimmed."
The Chang'an City Lantern Festival a thousand years ago was grand in scale, and the Xi'an Lantern Festival after a thousand years would be more lively, no matter where in the ancient city of Xi'an, the traffic was busy, and the beautiful scenery of the lights and lights made us feel the traditional Chinese culture that was brilliant and bright, and truly realized the brilliant scene of "burning thousands of torches, three days and three nights".
Want to travel through Sheng Tang? Looking for the beautiful lady hiding in the dim light? Want to see the bustling, glittering flower lanterns? Let's look forward to the Chang'an Lantern Festival in 2022